His First Choice

The woman had said their file was still open, but with no active investigation. But what if she heard that Levi showed up at school out of sorts?

He knew why Levi was upset. And he kind of blamed Lacey Hamilton for that, too. When he was feeling particularly sour. Mostly he knew the woman had just been doing her job. That she’d invaded their lives out of

true concern for Levi. And that she’d done exactly as he’d have wanted her to do, as he’d have done, if Levi were really in any kind of danger.

But didn’t she see that her descending on them as she had had affected all of them?

Levi had had a nightmare Sunday night. According to Tressa, he’d been screaming for Jem. Because he’d dreamed that someone had come and taken him away from his father.

Which didn’t totally make sense. He’d never given Levi even a hint about why Ms. Hamilton had been so briefly in their lives.

Unless... Had she?

“Tell me again about your dream...car,” he said as they pulled into the day care. He’d promised himself he wouldn’t bring up the nightmare unless Levi did. He didn’t want to make it more than it was. The four-year-old had slept just fine the previous night at home in his own bed.

Jem knew because he hadn’t slept much. And when he had, it had been with the nursery monitor on the pillow beside him.

“It’s that one with spoilers on it that I already told you about.” Levi sounded more sad than cantankerous.

Jem preferred cantankerous. That he knew how to deal with.

“You going to be okay at school today?” he asked.

“I wanna go to work with you.”

“I know, but you can’t. I’m on-site all day today, a smaller job without a trailer for you to stay in.” Electric had been laid at a million-dollar house he’d been commissioned to build and the inspectors were coming out. “So you going to be okay in here?” He’d yet to shut off the car.

Looking from Jem to the school, Levi unfastened the belt on his car seat. “Can we be at the beach tonight?”

“Yep.” And have chocolate for dinner, too, if it will bring the smile back to your face.

“Okay.” It was a disgruntled sound, but Jem took it. He hoped that they were on their way past this most recent crisis.

When Tressa had called him, panicked, in the middle of the night because Levi had been flailing around in his bed and screaming and she’d been unable to wake him, Jem had thought his ex-wife was overreacting. Again. He’d told her to calm down, to rub Levi’s back and talk to him and see if that woke him up. And then to call him back in five minutes.

She’d called him in ten. Levi had been having a chocolate cream cookie and a glass of milk.

The crisis had passed, he’d thought.

Once again he was back to wait-and-see.

He hated that place.

* * *

KACEY HAD BEEN with her almost a week and Lacey was getting spoiled. The little house she’d purchased a couple of blocks from the beach was spotless and she hadn’t lifted a finger. Dinner was waiting for her no matter how late she got home each night. Her laundry was not only done, but hung in order exactly as she liked it.

And neither Lacey nor Kacey had had a single sip of alcohol.

“It’s like you said,” Kacey was saying as they strolled along the beach the Saturday after Memorial Day. “I didn’t need it, I just wanted it.”

Lacey had hoped the words were true; she believed them to be true. Still, it was good to know for sure...

“If you kept your mind blurred, you didn’t have to face what was really going on.”

In denim shorts that showed off her long, tanned legs almost up to her butt, and a cropped white shirt, Kacey looked like every guy’s dream—at least in Lacey’s estimation—but for the frown on her face. It matched the vibe Lacey was getting.

“Talk to me,” she said.